Student Safety Patrol walks the walk

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Photo by Rebecca Rebholz / rebecca.rebholz@mu.edu

Marquette’s LIMO system is famous for taking people anywhere they want around campus, even though another program also provides a similar service. That program, the Student Safety Patrol, is referred to by some in the Department of Public Safety office as the most underused service on campus.

The patrollers escort students from one place to another on and around campus. There are always one or two patrollers in a group who walk people around campus and provide extra help to DPS. The service is available seven days a week from 5 p.m. to 12 a.m. Students contact DPS to be escorted by Student Safety Patrol.

Tony Marchiori, a senior in the College of Business Administration, and Patrick Lewandowski, a senior in the College of Education, are student safety patrollers who often work together.

When not escorting people, the pair walks around campus, examining parking lots and communicating with the Safety Patrol office and DPS over radio.

“We call ourselves Batman and Robin,” Lewandowski said. “Except neither of us wants to be Robin.”

Marchiori and Lewandowski both enjoy the unrestricted feeling of being outside and do not plan on becoming LIMO drivers.

“I’ve thought about it, but I enjoy being outdoors,” Marchiori said. “It is a good way to get out and know the campus. We also see stuff people wouldn’t usually see.”

But the patrollers also serve an important purpose for student safety, said DPS Sgt. Daniel Kolosovsky.

“They have two-way radios so if they see something that is suspicious in nature they will call it into the dispatcher, who will then call into (DPS),” Kolosovsky said.

In order for a student to become a LIMO driver or a safety patroller, they must go through extensive training through DPS.

“It is not just an entry-level position,” Kolosovsky said. “Everybody who comes to student safety is qualified as a safety patroller eventually because it is very foundational. They learn how to use radio and they learn what the boundaries are for patrol zone.”

A large number of students do use the service. Last year alone, more than 1,100 students were escorted.

“People use it because it is late and when it is nice out,” Marchiori said. “It also offers people a sense of extra security.”

Although numbers have been high, Public Safety hopes to increase the rate of students using the patrol service.

“I think it would be very smart for (students) to start using them more,” Kolosovsky said. “Sometimes the LIMOs bog down. I like to say that we are not student speedy, we are student safety. A safety patrol group can sometimes get you from point A to B even faster than a LIMO would because they are right there.”